Science Cafe Orlando

Digital ethnography can be understood as a method for representing real-life cultures through storytelling in digital media. This kind of computer-based storytelling lets audiences to go beyond absorbing facts and allows for immersion in the experience of another culture. This talk explores the extraordinary potential for enrichment offered by technological resources, and reminds us that the study of culture is as much about affective traits of feeling and sensing as it is about cognition—an approach facilitated (not hindered) by the digital age.

Dr. Natalie Underberg is an Associate Professor of Digital Media and Folklore in the UCF School of Visual Arts and Design. She has established a reputation as a leader in the application of digital media to ethnographic studies, focusing on the digital adaptation of cultural materials and the social impact of new technologies, with the goal of responsibly integrating technology into cultural representations. In 2007, she founded and became Director of the Digital Ethnography Lab Currently, she is working with colleagues to develop a model for Collaborative Interactive Media Design based on the principles of Digital Ethnography, Visual Language, and Human-Computer Interaction. Her ethnographic focus is on Peruvian, Puerto Rican and African-American folklore and cultural heritage in Florida and Latin America. Dr. Underberg has published in a wide range of journals including: American Folklore, Visual Anthropology Review and International Digital Media Arts Journal.  Forthcoming in 2013 is a book on Digital Ethnography. Her research has been funded by many organizations: Florida Humanities Council, Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She is the past-President of the Florida Folklore Society and active in many professional organizations. At the national level, she served as a Library of Congress Veterans History Project workshop facilitator. She is a sought after speaker and teacher in the US and internationally.